


The Space Between

by mrv3000



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-01-19
Updated: 2005-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-19 19:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/204204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrv3000/pseuds/mrv3000
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fluffy Space Race episode tag.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Space Between

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to splash_the_cat for betaing!

"Hey. Whatcha doing?"

He was in her space again. What was the average person's comfort zone? Daniel would know. Whatever the radius was, he was in it. Again. He had been doing that a lot lately. And this time he'd managed to get there without her even realizing it.

Sam managed not to jump. "Just putting back some of my equipment, sir." She felt his breath on the back of her neck. Or maybe she just imagined it.

"Ah." He moved away and crossed over to the other side of her desk.

No, her now-cool neck told her she had definitely not imagined it. "You headed home, sir?" Sam shoved a hand into her pack.

"Nah." He pulled a stool next to her desk and sat down. "Gotta fill out the mission report. Hammond's got me on this twenty-four-hour deadline thing and he seemed serious this time. His forehead got all wrinkly."

"You do bring out the best in him." Sam watched his face to make sure that he was in the mood for a little teasing. The corner of his mouth tugged upwards ever so slightly. Apparently he was.

"So..." He poked the edge of her desk with his finger. "Daniel's been going around calling you 'Speed Demon.'"

Apparently he was _really_ in the mood.

"Hmm?" Sam feigned indifference and continued to empty out her pack.

"I believe the words 'gung ho' came up."

She put the last item, an oscilloscope, in its case and snapped it shut. "Uh huh. He mentioned that to me too."

"Yep. Gung ho." He folded his hands on her desk and leaned forward. "Amazingly enthusiastic."

"Huh."

"Abundantly energetic."

Sam did her best not to smile but instead turned and met his gaze.

"Practically bouncing up and down. Turning cartwheels in the hall. Rabid."

That did it. "Okay, I was _not_ rabid."

He started to smirk. "Foaming at the mouth."

"That's...just disgusting." Sam pulled up another stool and sat across from him.

"I didn't know this about you."

"The foaming thing?"

"No, the Speed Demon thing."

"Oh." Her hand had found a small clamp and she rolled it between her fingers. "Is it a good thing?"

He slowly smiled. "Oh yeah."

He was doing it again. Giving her that cross between a smirk and a boyish grin, tied together with that twinkle in his eyes. Even if she lived to be a hundred, she didn't think she'd ever forget that certain look of one Jack O'Neill. Not that her CO would _ever_ flirt...

Hell. Who was she kidding? He was laying it on thick and she liked it. No sense deluding herself about that. But she wasn't about to put a stop to the one little thing they could have.

"I haven't seen you this way in a long time." He went back to fiddling with the edge of her desk.

"Sir?"

"It reminded me of that first mission. Before SG-1 even. You stared at the gate with this...giddy excitement."

"Giddy, sir?"

"Yup." He smiled at her, quickly running a hand over his head, which made his hair scruff up even more.

"Well, you were so impressed by my giddy excitement you shoved me through."

"Be glad. My first instinct was to kick you through."

"That bad, huh?"

His smile got bigger. "You started to spew big words, Carter." His hands went back to the edge of the desk. "You really gave me no choice."

She made herself put down the clamp. "Well, in your mind, I always spew big words."

"And don't think my foot doesn't always twitch."

Sam cocked her head to the side and smirked. "You tune me out, don't you?"

The colonel shook his head and put a hand to his ear. "Sorry...what?"

"Funny. Really funny, sir." She nodded. "You tune me out."

"Tune you out? Me? Why, I would never do something like that."

"Right."

"Well, it's all that techno-jargon." He shifted uncomfortably on the stool at the look she was giving him, but Sam wasn't letting him off the hook. Oh no. This was too much fun.

He jabbed at the desk and cleared his throat. "Okay, maybe I do. But it's not because of you. Well, it is because of you."

His eyes shot up, and Sam's eyes narrowed.

"It's self preservation! You can technobabble at me any time, Carter!"

She laughed, no longer able to keep up the steely facade. "I'll hold you to that, sir."

"Oh jeez," he said sheepishly. Apparently he was determined to put a hole in the edge of her desk. "So, any reason for this rediscovered giddiness?"

Sam hesitated. She hadn't been aware of any actual difference in herself, but if there was a change, was there a specific reason? "I'm not sure."

"Really?"

"Well, maybe I don't want to take things for granted."

"Things? Any one thing in particular?" the colonel asked, his expression having turned surprisingly serious. She couldn't tell if he was trying to read her or if he was just listening.

"Just...life in general."

The seriousness quickly faded. "Ah. That thing. So the renewed Carter's gonna grab onto those more...interesting aspects of life, huh?"

"Yeah..."

He gave her that Jack O'Neill look.

"I think."


End file.
